Ok, so I’m moderately new around here so for those who don’t know me, I work at Radioshack. Now, based on the recent news of our company, you may think that’s a bad thing. To that, I say: “Nay, Nay.”
After finding the PDF provided by Vinnie, originally from Jairus, last evening I decided to look today and find the parts necessary to build a belt gizmo to basically complete my GB1 uniform. I’ll do a build thread on that whenever it is finally completed(still waiting on the leg hose and connector from GBFans Shop). As I am doing research on the components, I realize that my place of employment basically has(although not entirely electronically accurate) the parts necessary to make a decently accurate looking Gizmo and daughterboard.
I started budgeting.
All in all(with a discount now) I was able to build 2 full Gizmos and Daughterboards with everything but the belt connecting devices for under $35.
Here is how I did it:
First, I printed out the templates found toward the bottom of THIS thread. It basically includes the square ICs around the board, the rectangular ICs toward the top of the board and a template for the tube shelf. I needed the following:
~26 resistors of varying resistance. I suppose you could use all one kind, but I got a variety pack to mix things up
~20 capacitors of varying uF. Again, got a variety pack.
Perf Board. I ended up with probably 2 square feet whenever you factor what it took me to make 2 of the sets.
Red, Green and Black hookup wire. Spools of 20ft each and came in a pack.
4 Clear pens(for the digit tubes)
2 ICs(I’m a big parts and tools store, so my selection was limited, but I got a longer one and a shorter one. Can’t remember what I used)
2 Anti Static Straps
A cutting tool, I used a dremel 'cause it went FAST.
1 Bottle of adhesive. I’d recommend 2 part epoxy. Honestly, tape would work in a non-impact prop setting
So I started by tracing out the template for the circuit board on the perf board and cut it to size. I did the same with the white IC’s from the center of the board and the black ICs from the top of the board. For the black sets, I doubled the perfboard whenever I connected them together.
I adhered the decals for the white ICs using simple Scotch tape and then attached them to the board.
Then I started on the resistors around the board. The first set wasn’t too terribly hard. Basically 8 total which would be wired up in series. I essentially just lined these up and then Scotch taped them into place until I permanently mounted them with epoxy.
The next set of resistors were a little trickier simply because of the red insulation that appears. Well, luckily enough for me, I already needed red wire for a few other places on the board. So a simple, but time consuming solution. I’d cut the wire, pull out the copper and then inserted the resistor lead into the insulation, formed the shape and put in into the perfboard in the same manner as the last. That makes a total of 16 resistors in this sequence.
Next was the capacitors that were in the same line on the board as the resistors. A total of 9 of them. For all of these resistors and capacitors, once the leads were through the perfboard I just bent them over to keep them in place until I was finished.
After I had finished the 3 rows of 3 capacitors, I started adding in the resistors through out the board in the empty spaces. I did stray away a bit from the design in this particular instance, simply because I didn’t have space in some areas or various other reasons.
Anyway, on to the pillow. I took two pieces of scrap perfboard an taped them together on the edge. I then took little pieces of solid core red wire and laced them through the small piece of perfboard to create the wires coming from the pillow.
Once I had them in position, I folded the two pieces together, trapping the wires and then wrapped electrical tape around the unit to simulate the pillow look. I then added an extra Sanyo label to the top. This particular label isn’t included in the PDF file that I used, so I had to improvise.
I attached the wires from the pillow in the same fashion as the resistors and capacitors from the other side of the board. For. For the tether, I used an anti static strap. It came with an alligator clip that was attached to the coiled portion by a banana clip. I removed the alligator clip and wrapped electrical tape around the banana clip. I then epoxied the clip to the bottom of the pillow. This didn’t seem nearly stable enough, so I also used some solid core wire and created a cable tie around the bottom of the board. Seems pretty solid now.
So, onto the daughterboard.
Basically, I found a design I liked a went with it. Again, lack of supplies killed me in this area, but I believe I was able to mock up something pretty close to screen accurate.
Now for the tubes. I used a pen to cut the cylinders down to size. I then made up the 4 lead wire that leads from them to the board and inserted each into the tube. It didn’t look so great, so I added a little E-tape to the bottoms and tops. Not screen accurate, but I’m mostly satisfied with how to looks for now. For the error box, I used a single digit IC display and colored the sides black. I used the same wire technique for the tubes for the error box and have the wires running to the side of the unit.
Not pictured:
I basically have zero ceramic disc caps in stock to finish it off, but I’ll add some pictures whenever it’s complete. Thus far, for a build that took me around 7 hours and I only used items I could buy from my own store(and a bit of epoxy), I’m happy with the result. Again, I am building two of these. And I did it for around $30 a piece for the general public.
Thanks for reading. Hope it helps someone build one of these!